Love Which Never Had A Chance To Blossom
by Galactic Alien
Summary: Councilor Tevos was always attracted to people with dark personalities and bright fire within them... and now, her latest crush is Commander Jane Shepard, the first human Spectre. Unfortunately, Fate is cruel, and the Reapers will not give a slightest chance for full blown romance to blossom. One-sided Tevos/F!Shepard, one-sided Liara/F!Shepard, past Aria/Tevos. No happy end here.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello there.**

**I'm back with another story. After humoristic "Shepard's Cunning Plan", my muse did a 180 degree turnaround and switched to sadder themes. Having a load of course work in university and listening too much of "Roter Sand" by Rammstein kinda pushed it along the way. Now that I don't have any more work to do and now am on a holiday, I decided to celebrate my freedom with my second fanfic on this site.**

**This story is dedicated to the author going by pen name "Thessian Shadow", who piqued my interest with the stories "From Ashes" and "When All Was Lost", which feature a rare pairing – F!Shepard/Councilor Tevos. I found both of them very good and suggest that you go check them out.**

**I know that many like to put Aria and Tevos together, and I like that pairing too, but I decided not to use the beaten path. No offense. There will be a reference to this pairing, but for the purposes of this fic, the romance between Aria and Tevos took place centuries ago, and is non-existent now.**

**Since there's little to none canon information on Tevos, I took a liberty of envisioning my own version of this character.**

**WARNING: this story is rated M for violence, swearing, and inevitable character death. Also, keep in mind that I did not pick the "Tragedy" genre for nothing. **

**CAREFUL, SPOILER: There's no happy ending with lovers' reunion in this story. If this is not to your liking, I can't do squat. This story is already formed, and its plot is not subject to any changes.**

**COMPULSORY DISCLAIMER: Mass Effect belongs to BioWare and Electronic Arts. This piece of fan fiction is written for non-commercial purposes only.**

* * *

Councilor Tevos T'Semni once heard from her ex-colleague, David Anderson, that one of the scariest curses of one of the Earth's nations, the Chinese, sounded like "I wish that you lived in times of change" (translated literally). Anderson admitted that he never verified whether such curse really existed or if someone had invented that story, but he told her that he would gladly agree to call these words (when addressed to somebody out of spite) a curse.

Tevos thought, _again_, that for a race so young compared to other species in the galaxy, humanity sometimes had the wisdom which would rival the one of asari. For she already was in her five hundred nineties (as the aforementioned ex-human Councilor said once in jest), and knew first-hand that when a time of change came, many sentients started to seek better fate and carve a new future for themselves, which promptly turned into a bloody game where many wanted to get a better deal at the cost of others. Such times always included a lot of violence, a high mortality rate and lots of grief in the galaxy. For those who failed to adapt had only one fate: _**death**_.

_And now,_ she thought, _I got the "privilege" (Sparatus' air quotes added) to witness the truth of that phrase myself._

The ones to blame for the latest change were _the Reapers_. Horrible sentient machines, twisted fusions of metal and organic tissue hell-bent on committing genocide of the whole galaxy every fifty thousand years. The ones who wiped out the whole Prothean race.

The ones who were wiping out the whole organic life in the galaxy _in this very moment_.

Even if they were thwarted, which was not likely, considering the sheer power at their disposal, the galaxy will never be the same as before. But the most truth-like variant would be a repeat of what was done to the Protheans, and the continuation of the most horrible cycle to have ever been invented.

Still, Tevos, as many people in the galaxy, had a slim hope. Hope provided by a person known to have defied many odds. A person, whose race was still a newcomer in the galaxy, yet managed to do in several decades what normally required centuries.

This person was Commander Jane Shepard, the first human Spectre, the Butcher of Torfan, the woman who ran with the gangs and had an extensive criminal record when she was still a kid. The woman who thwarted Saren, destroyed the Collector base, who was _killed_, for Goddess' sake, yet came back to life with the help of Cerberus.

_Ironic that Shepard now is Cerberus' worst enemy. I wonder if the Illusive Man imagined this outcome. He should have; he couldn't be ignorant of Shepard's hatred for xenophobia and unethical experiments, which he promoted._

When the Reaper War started, Shepard managed a few feats that people could not deem possible even when intoxicated. She helped to cure the genophage and promote peace between turians and krogan warriors, which in itself was deemed an impossible feat, but when she managed to make _quarians and the geth_ to stop their mutually destructive war and _cooperate_ of all things, people of the galaxy thought this particular piece of news to be a media spoof – or someone's morale-boosting prank.

That is, until geth Primes started dropping on Reaper forces from above. When that happened, many soldiers reflexively released torrents of mass effect accelerated slugs before they even comprehended that the synthetics were not actually firing _on them_, but _on the Reapers_ instead. The asari Councilor chuckled; the expressions on faces of asari commandoes on frontlines were nothing short of priceless.

However, Tevos was not naïve, and knew that those victories cost Shepard a lot. The aforementioned biggest feats were paid for with the deaths of her closest comrades. Mordin Solus, ex-STG operative and brilliant scientist, the one who played a crucial role in the defeat of the Collectors, went out in flames on the top floor of the Shroud, so that the krogan would be free from the genophage, and, having learnt from their mistakes, would build a better future for them. And the peace between quarians and the geth required the dissemination of a gestalt geth intelligence, which ("_who",_ Tevos corrected herself, _**he**__, not __**it**__, was alive, just like the rest of us_) responded to the name "Legion". _"My name is Legion, for we are many". An appropriate metaphor, indeed._

From what she knew, Shepard was positively _devastated_ when she returned to the Normandy after the mission of Rannoch. The mere fact that an organic could become accustomed to a _synthetic_ as much as to any other organic being shocked Tevos, but she managed to understand this attachment to some degree. Shepard bore the brunt of this war, uniting the galaxy when it seemed that everyone would rather go _extinct_ than work together.

Not only that, but when the Council itself was in danger from Cerberus, their lives were ultimately saved by the heroic sacrifice by drell assassin Thane Krios. Councilor Valern wanted to share some suspicions about Udina with C-Sec Executor when the human supremacist organization attacked the heart of galactic society. Valern survived the initial attack, but Cerberus was not fooled; their best assassin, Kai Leng, was ready to deliver a killing blow to the salarian Councilor, when Krios drew his attention. In short and fierce battle, Thane forced Leng to retreat – but he received a fatal stab by a monomolecular sword. The terminal stage of Kepral's syndrome did not help matters, either, and the infamous assassin expired in front of Shepard's eyes in Huerta Memorial Hospital. Shepard was extremely angry at Cerberus after that, so much that she mercilessly wiped out any Cerberus force she happened to encounter with such ferocity that even the Illusive Man had to shudder from.

Tevos couldn't help but think if _another one_ of her friends died that day, Shepard would have exploded with the force of a Goddess-damned antimatter warhead. Fortunately for everyone present, Lieutenant-Commander Ashley Williams, the second human to be accepted in the ranks of Special Tactics and Reconnaissance office of Citadel Councilhad enough common sense to trust her Commander instead of Donnel Udina, who actually staged a _coup_ just in order to give Cerberus (if unwittingly) an advantage that would cost the galaxy _everything_. As Tevos speculated later, if Williams refused to stand down, Shepard would gun her down without a second thought.

One did not have to be a rocket scientist or hold a PhD in psychology to understand that all those events took a pretty heavy toll on the Commander, and Tevos wished that she could just hold the first human Spectre and give her _knowledge_ that _someone_ supported her wholeheartedly. Strange thoughts for a politician of such a high rank, yes, but even politicians were not immune to their inner feelings.

And Tevos, in fact, had romantic feelings for Commander Jane Shepard.

To put it bluntly, Matriarch Aethyta style: _Tevos has fallen hard for Shepard_.

She could not even tell when her heart deemed it necessary to be filled with such sacred feeling. Tevos was not ignorant of who Shepard was, and did a lot of background checks, when Shepard's candidature for the Spectres was still debated over. Nothing seemed to be out of place; sure, Shepard was well-known, but she was not the only one. Tevos could name at least _ten_ people more famous and influential (and more attractive) than Shepard out of the top of her head.

Yet, during the course of Normandy's hunt for Saren, the asari couldn't help but notice… _something_ within the first human Spectre. When Shepard made her reports to the Citadel Council, she stood her ground against doubts, admonishments and even snarky statements from Councilor Sparatus (honestly, he was wearing his heart on the sleeve too openly even for a turian), sometimes even going as far as to lose the comm channel. _That_ went too far, in Tevos' opinion, and annoyed her, yet she couldn't help but admire the human's bravery. Shepard made her message clear to the Council: _I report to you, but that doesn't mean you can just roll over me whenever you want, Councilors or not._ Very few would dare to defy the Council that way.

Not to mention that Shepard's decisions were extremely controversial, if not outright harmful for the galaxy (in Council's opinion) or destructive. When rescuing Liara T'Soni from the geth on Therum, Shepard initiated a seismic event (albeit unwittingly) that triggered an eruption of volcano _that held Prothean ruins inside._ A loss of such magnitude was nearly unforgivable in eyes of the high and mighty, and were Shepard not a Spectre, the courts would not give her any mercy. But Spectre status gave her an official free cop-out.

Then, on Feros, Shepard had discovered a previously unknown species, the Thorian. And almost immediately went to destroy it, because it used a form of mind control on the colonists (or she insisted so), which was against her moral code (many would dismiss the notion of the Butcher of Torfan having any sort of moral code, but Tevos knew better). In this case, she could not really fault Shepard, and the fact that she actually did her best to save the colonists was only a plus, but, seriously, was it really necessary to hang up on the Council just because Sparatus made insulting hints? Such behavior would be considered childish at best.

_Shepard never learned that Spectre position is very political. And no one actually bothered to warn her. Is that a surprise, in this case?_

Then came Noveria, and with it, confrontation with traitorous Matriarch Benezia. Amazingly, Shepard's team won, beating unenviable odds – asari commandoes, geth troopers, and Matriarch against best N7 operative, a well-known krogan warlord and said Matriarch's daughter. And moments after her victory, she discovered a _Rachni Queen_, and instead of doing the sensible thing (dropping acid on her), she believed Queen's claims that their people "never wanted war", but "were forced into it" (_Oh really?_) and up and _released her_. The whole Council was not amused by this situation, and they did not hide it, so Shepard up and disconnected _again_. That evening, Tevos took her time using some chosen words about reckless human Spectre, in private, of course. And yet, some part of her said, _that human surely doesn't lack for spirit. Fascinating…_

After that, came Virmire. What was supposed to be the light recon mission turned into a fierce battle, after which the crew of the _Normandy_ lost their comrade, and 3rd STG Infiltration regiment was nearly wiped out. And it all ended in a nuclear blast. After that, Shepard came to the Citadel, almost _begging_ to let her come to Ilos and catch Saren there, but Tevos (and the whole Council) didn't believe her – or her claims about Reapers. _No offense to Shepard, but the whole claim did look ludicrous, and there was no tangible evidence. Spectre's word is not enough to risk a war with Terminus Systems, especially if they all united under the banner of Aria T'Loak. No matter what relationship we had in the past, she would __**not**__ take kindly to this._ So, they ordered Shepard to stay on the Citadel, and put _Normandy_ on lockdown.

Yet Shepard went as far as to openly _disobey_ the Council and _steal her own ship_, just to complete her mission before Reapers invaded the galaxy (not that anyone except Shepard, her crew and her mentor, then-Captain Anderson, knew about that or was willing to believe her). And she was proven right in the end, when Sovereign and geth fleet attacked the Citadel, and nearly took apart the flagship of the whole Citadel Fleet, _Destiny Ascension_.

Tevos was _so sure_ that she and her colleagues would perish along with nearly ten thousand of asari crew, because the situation was really desperate: _Destiny Ascension_ was mercilessly pounced upon by geth ships, GARDIAN systems were offline and powerless to stop disruption torpedoes, barriers were failing, no other ships could help, and Sovereign was inside the closed Citadel, doing Goddess-only-knew-what.

And when all seemed lost, Alliance Fifth Fleet came out of the unlocked relay, and rushed to help the besieged _Destiny Ascension_, suffering losses. Tevos did not learn until after the battle that the recommendation to save them came from _Shepard_, the same person who had all reasons to be angry with the Council, and who sacrificed three-quarters of her unit on Torfan. Everybody would expect that she would spare the reinforcements and concentrate on Sovereign, abandoning the Council to their ignoble fate. Needless to say, the whole Council was shocked to the core.

It was then when Tevos fully noticed that Shepard had some sort of _fire_ within her that inspired loyalty not only among her crew, who were bound to serve her by Alliance military code, but also among her rag-tag team of misfits, who were complete strangers and owed almost nothing to Shepard: an unfairly overlooked granddaughter of the only human to have surrendered to alien force, an L2 biotic, a krogan mercenary battlemaster with his unique views on honour, a turian ex-C-Sec officer with renegade views on justice, a quarian kid on Pilgrimage who was unwelcome almost everywhere and an asari scientist, who was an outcast in her society even before her mother was proven to be a traitor to the galactic community.

Anyone would bet that such team would not hold together, yet everyone of the aforementioned individuals followed Shepard through the whole ride and was ready to follow her into _hell_ itself, if she deemed it necessary, and get out from there unscathed. Not to mention that the whole crew of the Normandy supported their CO when she dared to openly disobey the Council and the orders of Ambassador Udina, which was a _capital offense_.

When Tevos saw the _fire_ within Shepard for what it was, she couldn't help but feel… attracted… to the human. The knowledge that Tevos owed her very life to the human she dismissed as a glorified grunt (admittedly unfairly) only compounded the birthing feeling composed of gratefulness, shame, and _interest_. She would mentally curse herself, of course, but she couldn't really help it. The asari Councilor always paid more romantic attention (if such a word combination is possible) to sentients with strong personalities and the fire within. Of course, such sentients were very rare. In fact, the last time she felt something like that was several centuries ago, when she familiarized herself with the youngest daughter of T'Loak family.

Tevos smiled at the memories. She and Aria had a lot of good time together, from sneaking around to steal a kiss from each other to engaging into… _daring_ intimate activities. The current Pirate Queen of Omega always held herself confidently, but there was more beneath her exterior. She knew how to make everyone listen to her, and had a streak of mischief. No surprise that many wanted to be around her back in those days. She held the fire within her, the fire which charmed the asari Councilor and dragged her to itself.

Unfortunately, the fates were not kind enough to them. When their families discovered the secret romance brewing between them, they practically outright forbade them to date, a decision which was not met well by both parties. In fact, Aria and Tevos practically started a rebellion, trying to escape their "captivity" and continue seeing each other. Neither of them believed in the whole issue concerning so-called "pureblood" offsprings, and didn't see anything bad in their romance (when they stated that openly to their parents, nearly everyone lost their jaws), which, unfortunately, was not the case with their families. The issue eventually escalated into a firefight involving those few who dared to support the asari Romeo and Juliet against the acolytes of both houses. In the end, both Aria and Tevos were brought to the heel, the decision that had bad consequences for the asari. Eventually, Aria escaped her relatives and started carving her way in the Terminus Systems, and became the queen of Omega in the end. And soon after that, she claimed her family wealth, since by then, nobody but her was alive from the whole T'Loak family (rumours persisted that Aria played a hand in her relatives' untimely demise, but nobody proved that, nor was willing to try). When the news reached the matriarchs, a lot of them were either scared or angered, since T'Loak family assets were quite valuable. Fortunately, Aria was not really interested in internal asari politics; having ensured that her family wealth is safe, she sent a big "fuck you" to the matriarchs and left for Omega, never to return. Unfortunately, this proved to be detrimental for their relationship – the spark that fueled their passion was lost, and Aria and Tevos never rekindled their relationship, instead choosing to remain friends – in secret, of course. But Tevos never forgot Aria's fire.

And now, having witnessed Shepard's fire herself, she couldn't help but pay more attention to the human. What began as an innocent interest turned into desire. Unfortunately, Shepard still insisted on her Reaper theory, and while Tevos witnessed Sovereign's power herself, she could not allow mass panic to begin by openly acknowledging the threat; so she assisted in sidelining Shepard, making her hunt the remaining pockets of Geth resistance. Tevos was not heartless enough not to feel shame; she _knew_ that Commander was proven right. She mentally promised herself that once Commander came back, she would have a private personal chat with her on the whole matter.

However, as Anderson would probably say, karma has decided to be a bitch: before Tevos had the chance to fulfill her promise, _Normandy SR-1_ was blown to smithereens by an unknown assailant. And Shepard, as the reports said, did not survive the encounter. In fact, nobody was even able to find her body on Alchera, where the whole catastrophe took place.

Tevos grieved silently for the Commander, being sad that such promising individual was lost, and attended the "funeral", which buried the empty coffin, said several words about her eternal debt to Shepard, etc. It was really hard for her not to burst into tears, but she had too much experience as a politician to do that. She quickly recomposed herself, focusing on the needs of the galaxy. Even then, she couldn't help but remember Shepard and her fire, and wish that the human never died.

_Be careful what you wish for_. Another human saying which held wisdom.

Two years after the attack on the Normandy, Shepard was reported to have been seen on Omega. With _Cerberus agents_.

Tevos didn't know what to think; she could not understand why Shepard would fake her own death (as it seemed at that time) and work with _Cerberus_ of all things. She could not help but feel a sharp sting of betrayal, as if the human not only betrayed the galactic government, but also betrayed Tevos personally. _Surely the first human Spectre would know better than to work for the sworn enemy of the Council, the one that preaches human supremacy over all sentient beings of the galaxy, and that had committed multiple atrocities, some of which she stopped herself?_ And she chose not to believe the rumours, trying to bury her memories of the brave human within the depths of her mind.

But then, Shepard appeared in front of her, _in the flesh_. She quickly, but insistedly reported that the Collectors (and by extension, Reapers – yes, Reapers _again_) were behind the strange disappearances of human colonies in the Terminus Systems, and appealed for help, since she was none too pleased (or she appeared so, at least) to work _with_ Cerberus. _At least, she did not appear to be brainwashed. _Tevos was still bowled over by the course of events, and, confused, did not do better than to retain Shepard's Spectre status. The human was not amused by yet another refusal (even if she saw a reason behind it), but did not refuse the "gesture of peripheral support", not that it mattered in the Terminus Systems (and the Council did not want Shepard to act as a Spectre anywhere else).

Another thing was Shepard's insistence on _actually having been dead_ as dead can be after being spaced and suffocating due to oxygen pipe breach. Tevos could not believe it; no one could. Yet, she decided to discover as much as she could about Shepard's claims; and after having contacted Shadow Broker and some other information brokers, among which was _Liara T'Soni herself_, she was forced to conclude that Shepard did not actually lying. In fact, Tevos was astonished to discover that it was Liara who gave Shepard's body to Cerberus, in slim hope that they _would_ be able to resurrect the human.

_Lazarus Project. Named after the legend in Christian Bible, in which Jesus Christ resurrected Lazarus, a man who was dead for four days. What a fitting name. _

So many things could have gone wrong with this project. So many things could have been done to ensure that Shepard would remain a slave for Cerberus forever. So much has changed in Shepard after the successful outcome of Lazarus project, but one thing was certain.

The _fire_ within Shepard never went out, and it burned even more brightly. Anderson joked humourlessly later in a private conversation that when death tried to take Shepard, she kicked and screamed until she landed a perfect strike at Grim Reaper's, er, _privates_, and broke free, escaping its clutches. Tevos did not understand the joke until Anderson explained to her what exactly Grim Reaper was and what consequences kicking human males into that very area had. Even then, the joke went over her head because of cultural differences. She gave up trying to understand it, and continued to keep track of Shepard, while cursing her turian and salarian colleagues for the desire to _just ignore_ Shepard's warnings and the political trap she found herself in because of their attitude. Sure, spreading panic was not an option, which was inevitable if the truth was made public, but the first human Spectre cared little for politics. Still, there was an option of trying to prepare in secret, yet it was not taken. Even her own government refused to take measures aimed at possible future defense from any external threat.

Meanwhile, the arisen-from-the-dead human made even more turmoil than during her hunt for Saren. She built up a team of the best biotics, warriors, and tech specialists one could find in the galaxy. _Say what you will about the Illusive Man, but he obviously had an eye for a talent._ Even if said talent belonged to an alien. Tevos did not dare to hope that the proverbial shell would fall into the same hole twice and that such a diverse team (even more diverse than one of the first Normandy) could become fiercely loyal to Shepard. After all, there were characters in the team that could not possibly hope to work together under normal circumstances. Tevos recalled all the dossiers given to Shepard by The Illusive Man, plus all intelligence reports on the _Normandy SR-2_ that she laid her eyes upon, in her head.

Garrus Vakarian, who worked earlier with Shepard and, after her death, made himself known as Archangel, a vigilante that nearly got himself overrun with the three _biggest_ players in private military contractors' business: Blue Suns, Blood Pack, and Eclipse. His old CO appeared just in time to save him, but he did not escape unscarred, and not only physically. Betrayal by one of his squadmates gnawed at him, and he sought revenge. When he got the chance, he asked Shepard to assist. And she granted him his wish.

_Cruel, but Shepard was never merciful to traitors either. After that, the last hope of Garrus being not loyal to Shepard was gone._

Mordin Solus, a scientist and an ex-STG operative, the one who invented the means of protection from Collectors' seeker swarms and the one who did the most part in altering the genophage virus that would counter their beginning of recovering from the deadly curse. He believed firmly that this choice was the right one, but also had a code of ethics. _A rare trait in his line of work._ He almost killed his student, Maelon, when the latter started developing a cure for the genophage, using the philosophy of ends justifying the means. But Shepard stopped him, allowed to get over his student's decisions, and persuaded him to save the data, even if they were dangerous and received by unethical means. And he responded by helping her with producing the genophage cure.

_I'm sure he saw the irony. May the Goddess watch over him. He did not deserve to die and not to see the result of his work._

Jack, a victim of Cerberus' experiments and seemingly never ending abuse, the woman who had a male name (_a strange trait_, Tevos mused) and a lot of convictions, one of the worst known criminals with a _lot_ of biotic firepower. She was loyal to no one but herself, and demanded that Shepard helped her in her quest for revenge against Cerberus, which was not a smart thing to do – but the Commander agreed, and then helped her to blow up the facility that made Jack into what she was with a DX-57. The convict felt gratitude, and eventually, admitted that Shepard was a good woman, and decided to follow her to the end of the suicide mission.

_And now she rose to prominence as a biotic instructor. She'll bear the scars forever, but maybe she'll heal._

Urdnot Grunt, the tank-bred krogan created by warlord Okeer, who was well known and very hated among his compatriots. Dubbed a "perfect krogan", he planned to go on a rampage, but was trumped by Shepard, who promised him worthy enemies. _She most definitely kept her promise,_ Tevos mused darkly. And when he showed the signs of turning into an adult, namely the barely controllable blood rage, the Commander took care to join him as his krannt during the Rite of Passage. Together they managed to do the impossible – they killed _a thresher maw __**on foot!**_ Grunt proudly proclaimed Shepard as his battlemaster, stating that she had no match.

_I don't doubt that he would follow her even if she went into an active volcano._

Kasumi Goto, the notorious thief that could penetrate almost every type of defense system as if they never existed. She had (judging by what Tevos caught from Shepard's words) a cheerful personality, and one almost could not believe that the young Japanese was capable of harbouring hatred – but she did, and that hatred had a target: Donovan Hock. This "businessman" killed Kasumi's lover, Keiji Okuda, and tried to crack open his graybox. And the thief wanted it back.

_Note to self: next time __**I**__ want something back, I should just ask Shepard._

Of course, no plan survives contact with the enemy, and Goto's carefully planned heist went down the drain when they found the graybox. This quickly turned into battle against Hock's guard from Eclipse, which eventually resulted in crimelord's death when his gunship exploded in Bekenstein's skies. Kasumi's desire for revenge was fully sated, and she also had the thing most precious for her back. And she gained a trustworthy friend in Shepard.

_An ally like this is priceless. From what I know about Project Crucible, Miss Goto helped them a lot with her skills at her… not so legal job._

Zaeed Massani, the founder of the Blue Suns, who was betrayed by Vido Santiago and shot to the head – but _survived_, and from that moment, he was gunning for his ex-colleague with almost unparalleled hatred. During the course, he became one of the best and the most notorious mercenaries in the Terminus Systems, which made him an appropriate target for recruitment by Cerberus. Unfortunately, Massani was not completely free – he still had to deal with the Blue Suns on Zorya, where the mercs had seized an Eldfell-Ashland facility, and the Goddess saw it fit to send his nemesis there. When the old veteran saw Santiago, he started a fire which trapped the workers inside. If Shepard's team were to try and rescue the workers, they would have had to let Santiago go.

_But they did not._

Tevos shuddered; she knew that Shepard was prone to making hard and morally ambiguous choices, Torfan being the most well-known, but not the only one. However, this yielded the favourable results for the human Commander: Zaeed, not being distracted by his grudge anymore, delved fully into the mission, and even after its completion, stayed loyal to Shepard.

_To each his own, I guess._

Tali'Zorah vas Normandy nar Raaya. She also served with Shepard on the SR-1, but was unable to join her the first time they met each other after the human's death on Freedom's Progress. They crossed paths again much later, when Normandy SR-2 travelled into Far Rim to planet Haestrom. There, Shepard's team had to battle against their old enemy; the geth. The quarian team was all but slaughtered, only one survivor (besides Tali) remained – Kal'Reegar, Migrant Fleet marine. All for the dubious purpose of determining why Haestrom's star, Dholen, was aging before it's time. And after that, the Admiralty Board accused Shepard's comrade of treason. This claim was met with such hostility from Shepard that even when they gained proof of Tali's innocence (but also proof of Tali's father being guilty of worse than mere treason), she all but called them out on the carpet, almost inciting a rebellion of the quarian crew against the Board. The quarian became utterly devoted to Shepard after that, and the human, in turn, practically adopted Tali as a younger sister.

_And now Tali'Zorah became an Admiral herself, assisting Shepard in the Reaper War. It appears that everyone who spends time with Shepard achieves greatness. It is unfair that Shepard herself gained nothing. Should I survive, I must amend that._

Jacob Taylor, ex-Alliance marine and Corsair, a man with some code of honour that could not handle bureaucracy and inaction of Systems Alliance when it mattered (in his point of view). In order to right wrongs, he joined Cerberus, thinking that his work there really mattered. It did to a degree; after all, he helped Shepard to get off Lazarus Station when it was under attack by a traitor. He was one of the first to be on Spectre's crew aboard the Normandy SR-2. When he received a signal from Hugo Gernsback, his father's ship, the wish to see what became of his supposedly late father overtook him, and Shepard agreed to investigate, even if chances of elder Taylor surviving were extremely low.

Turned out that curiousity sometimes does not kill the cat, but reveals the ugly truth. It turned out that Jacob's father created a juvenile dream for himself, abusing his position as acting captain and forcing people to eat the flora of the planet they landed on. This flora caused decay of mental function, no matter what was done with it; and Roland Taylor used this fact to his own advantage. At Shepard's urging, Jacob left his father a pistol with half a clip – not enough for self-defence, but enough to commit suicide, as humans earlier did when they considered their honour stained.

_And Jacob's father did exactly that. Harsh, but yet again effective. Taylor retained his loyalty to Shepard after that._

Thane Krios, an infamous drell assassin who was facing the twilight of his life. Seeking repentance, he tried to amend his sins by eliminating Nassana Dantius, a ruthless asari "businesswoman". In the process, he did his best to save some of the salarian workers building Dantius Towers when they faced certain death at the hands of her Eclipse guard. Shepard was hot on his tails, blazing her way across the building. In the end, she got into Nassana's office first, and got to witness her demise.

_No doubt she felt satisfied, after that stunt where Nassana tricked her into killing pirates who were led by another member of Dantius family._

After a short conversation, Thane agreed to join Shepard's mission, "no charge", as he said. Apparently, preventing Collectors from abducting humans was also a noble enough course for him.

Yet in the process, he heard that his son Kolyat decided to follow his path. Believing that this was the wrong thing to do, he approached Shepard for help, and she assisted him. When Kolyat took his target – Joram Talid – hostage, Thane was able to talk his son down, albeit not without problems and one casualty (Shepard killed Talid herself, deciding that the life of a staunch anti-human politician mattered little to her). Still, father and son made first steps in reconciling, and Thane, now feeling assured that his son would not follow his slippery path, concentrated fully on the mission.

_And when Cerberus attacked the Citadel, he gave his life to save not only Valern, but __**all**__ of us. His heroism must not be forgotten._

Legion, the independent geth platform specifically created for the purpose of tracking Shepard, who defeated Sovereign. It was unknown at that time, but the geth had two factions: the "true" geth and the "heretics". The latter were the ones to blame for the attacks on Eden Prime and the Citadel, as they agreed to serve Sovereign, disregarding the belief shared by the true geth that organic life has a right to self-determination. When the platform got knocked out on the derelict Reaper, where Shepard searched for Reaper IFF system, the human made an _extremely_ unorthodox decision: she took the geth platform onboard and _activated_ it. No one else would have done it.

Which turned out to be a good decision, since the threat of geth heretics did not end with Sovereign's destruction. Furthermore, a weapon was created which could subvert the true geth to the beliefs of heretics, not unlike indoctrination. Shepard readily assisted Legion in negating the threat, destroying the space station and all heretic programs within.

_From what I know, this very thing later played the ultimate role in promoting peace between the quarians and the geth. It's such a shame that Legion had to… well… sacrifice itself (or, actually, __**him**__self). The insight into synthetic mind that he had would have been invaluable._

Samara, the Justicar, Servant of the Code. A person who must punish anyone who commits a crime, and most of the time, the punishment delivered by a Justicar is _capital_. Samara was hunting for a particular prey for almost 400 years, when she came across Shepard. In all honesty, it would be foolish to expect that the 900-years old matriarch would follow Shepard, who was known to make harsh choices and take courses of action deemed "unjust" by the Justicars. However, Samara gave a Third Oath of Subsumation to avoid conflict between Shepard's orders and her Code, a feat nearly unheard of. Her trust was fully repaid: Shepard risked her _soul_ while trying to help Samara kill her own Ardat-Yakshi _daughter_, Morinth. From what Tevos knew, Shepard managed to resist the technique of Domination often employed by… less reputable asari.

_And she didn't let Samara kill her last daughter, Falere, right after the death of her third daughter, Rila. Falere was able to "circumvent" the Justicar Code. Shepard can be as noble at times as she can be brutal. Common people never gain a friend in a Justicar._

Finally, Miranda Lawson, who used to be a staunch Cerberus loyalist; not surprising, since she had been recruited at 16. A daughter of one of the wealthiest (and the least pleasant) human businessmen, Henry Lawson, who had an unhealthy obsession with leaving his trace in history. Tevos remembered Miranda's words about herself: "_I was not the first one he created; I was the first one he kept._" Yes, _created_, by removing the Y-chromosome and doubling the X-chromosome, thus depriving her of a mother, a concept practically unforgivable among modern-day asari. The alterations in Miranda's genetic code were beneficial, but ambiguously ethical and borderline illegal. And he tried to do the same to Miranda's twin sister, Oriana.

In all honesty, Tevos' heart went out to a 16-year old teenager, who stole a baby child so that to spare her the pain of growing up under the wing of the unloving father. If someone else besides Cerberus offered Miranda the option of joining them in exchange for her sister's safety, she probably wouldn't have become one of the most wanted persons by C-Sec. The Illusive Man very effectively molded the innocent teenager into a staunch pro-human (but not xenophobic, thank the Goddess for small mercies) supporter. Yet even Miranda failed to withstand Shepard's fire and charisma.

_Guess rescuing a twin sister not once, but actually twice and helping to avoid Cerberus assassins helps a lot. Lawson's support was invaluable against Cerberus once this Goddess-accursed Reaper War took a turn for the worse._

Slowly but surely Tevos reassured herself that Shepard was still the same person that was bestowed the honour of becoming the first human to enter the prestigious ranks of Spectres, the same person that Tevos had previously fallen for. And yet another circumstance arose that would surely prevent the blossoming of what could be a scandalous yet pleasant love affair.

_Omega-4 Relay._ The mass relay which led to Goddess-knew-where and which was known as a death trap, since no ship ever returned from it. And her mission against the Collectors was dubbed a suicide mission, since apparently the Collectors had their base of operations right there. Seemed a bit ridiculous that The Illusive Man would spend over 4 billion credits (Tevos nearly lost her jaw when she found out that little tidbit – _just how powerful Cerberus was?_) on Shepard's resurrection and several _more_ billions on the construction of _Normandy SR-2_ (at _this_ tidbit, the asari Councilor _did_ lose her jaw and uttered several swear words, to the shock of Sparatus and Valern and amusement of Anderson) and hiring of the crew, just to send them to their deaths. Yet the _ol' Timmy bastard_ (as Tevos' object of amorous feelings liked to call The Illusive Man) "had a lot of faith in Shepard and her crew", and surprisingly, his gamble paid off (at _**this**_ point, _the whole Council_ except Anderson lost their jaws): the Collector base was destroyed, and Shepard managed not to lose _a single member of her crew!_

After that, Tevos' insides were on flame with desire again. She was sorely tempted to send the whole politics to the daemonesses of ancient asari tales and congratulate Shepard personally (no innuendoes or Sparatus' infamous air quotes here!). And yet, another part of her, the one responsible for political decisions, won again, so Tevos did congratulate Shepard, but not in person, and once again she dismissed the Reaper threat. It seemed as if fates liked to mess with Shepard by not giving her any valuable tangible intel.

It also seemed that karma was still a bitch to Tevos, because soon after the success of anti-Collector mission, Shepard killed her colleague, Tela Vasir. The deceased asari was a renowned Spectre, responsible for several successful missions that could seriously threaten galactic stability. Tevos was shocked, but intelligence reports said later that Vasir was double-dealing for the Shadow Broker, who actually tried to sell Shepard's body to the Collectors and became sworn enemy of Liara T'Soni in the process. _Of course, Shepard would help her friend._

After that, Tevos could not feel that much regret over Vasir's death, especially since it came out that the corrupt Spectre sold a couple of Council secrets herself. After that, Shepard disappeared and did not re-emerge for some time.

And then, when she did re-emerge, she up and destroyed the mass relay in Bahak system. One shall ask, dumbfounded: "Wait, what?" We'll say this once again:

_Shepard destroyed the mass relay in Bahak system._

Destroyed. A mass relay. With an asteroid. Really. A Goddess-damned mass relay.

_Does this human have a limit to making what was believed to be impossible __**actually possible**__?!_

The thing is, the explosion of the mass relay destroyed the whole Bahak system, making Viper Nebula no longer accessible and claiming the lives of more than 300,000 batarians.

_304,942 batarians, to be exact._

When Tevos learned about _that_, she was intensely _furious_. To many asari, lives of sentients were not to be cast aside like broken toys, and yet Shepard did that, and (if the reports were correct) _did not even warn the batarians on Aratoht!_ All in the name of stopping the Reapers.

Oh how she wanted to throttle that damnable human, that _puthreckal_ with her own hands! For committing mass murder, for destroying the only feasible way of interstellar travel, _for crashing my heart, even if she didn't know about that!_

The fact that Tevos used the word "_puthreckal_" to describe Shepard in that moment, which belonged to not-widely-known Old Thessian dialect and could not even be properly translated into human languages, meaning roughly "a most despicable sort of a heartless life-taker" (that meant, murderer), spoke volumes of her fury.

And yet, she still wanted to know: _what made Shepard commit this? Was there a reason? Or were Sparatus and Valern right and she had gone mad, and must be given to Batarian Hegemony, abandoned to a fate worse than death?_

Tevos vividly remembered the day when she visited the Alliance prison where Shepard was kept before her transfer to Earth, once she had surrendered herself and _Normandy_ to the Alliance…

_=====FLASHBACK=====_

_She was striding purposely through the corridors of the Alliance prison, her Spectre bodyguard behind her, her jaws set, her facial muscles strained, her lips pursed, her eyes ablaze with a flame which could only be attributed to avatars of vengeance._

_Alliance soldiers on guard duty were struggling not to get in her way, or pushed themselves back into the walls, as if this could give them a chance to disappear from her face._

_Several steps behind her, Admiral Steven Hackett and newly-appointed Admiral and ex-Councilor David Anderson were nearly struggling to keep pace with the infuriated asari._

"_Councilor Tevos," started Anderson, "you do know that…"_

"_That information got from mind meld is not considered admissible evidence in the court? Or that melding without consent is a faux pas among my people? To both; yes."_

"_Your anger is understandable, Councilor, but…" Hackett tried to capture the initiative, only to meet Tevos' furious gaze._

"_And you! You certainly have a lot of nerve, Admiral Hackett!" the asari rounded on the elderly human. "She destroyed the whole __**star system**__, and you are trying to stop the judicial system from doing their job?"_

"_I am not!" Hackett replied heatedly. "But as far as I know Shepard, she never did heinous things unless she actually had a reason!"_

"_Seconded!" Anderson supported his colleague. "You know full well that Shepard is no longer with Cerberus, and her hatred of batarians is not enough for her to commit this! I've known her for far longer than the whole Council combined!"_

"_It would be Reapers, wouldn't it?" muttered the asari Spectre, not bothering to hide her derision. Wrong move; it immediately earned her Anderson's wrath._

"_It would certainly be it! She's already done more for the whole fucking galaxy than anyone since that goddamn clusterfuck with Saren!"_

"_What exactly? Joined Cerberus? Killed my colleague, Tela Vasir? Blew up a Goddess-accursed relay?!" the Spectre answered, her vouce rising._

"_Enough!" Tevos interrupted. "I understand your feelings, Anderson. But so far, there hasn't been any incontrovertible, undoubtable, tangible __**proof**__ of her claims, so I must search for __**untangible proof**__. And no one shall change my mind," with these words, the whole procession arrived at Shepard's cell. The burly Alliance guard gulped visibly on seeing four VIP's (one of them with a gun that promised __**lots**__ of pain) coming to him. Tevos immediately set her sights on him:_

"_I must speak with Shepard. Now."_

"_I'm sorry, ma'am, but I can't do that without…"_

"_You have my authorization, Lieutenant Vega," Hackett interrupted him._

"_Mine as well," Anderson added and turned to Tevos, "but I __**insist**__ on being present."_

"_As you wish," Councilor replied, while Vega opened the door._

_When it opened, Tevos went inside, Spectre guard and Anderson hot on her heels, and immediately went for her intended victim who unwittingly managed to captivate her heart earlier and crash it now. As she approached, she measured the Spectre with her eyes._

_Jane Shepard looked a lot older than she was. Her hair was sagged as if she forgot to take care of them, her posture screamed defeatism, and her eyes were dull. Certainly a far cry from the warrior in the vids or reports. As the asari approached, she raised her heads and uttered:_

"_Councilor? What…" before she had a chance to continue, Tevos grabbed her face and turned her face so that they would have a direct eye contact._

"_Embrace Eternity, Commander," Tevos muttered, and her eyes became obsidian black._

_Shepard was not well-versed in mental defenses, and as such, the asari Councilor had no problem with getting inside her head._

"_What are you doing, Councilor?" Shepard spoke within her mind, not sure of anything._

"_I must see… just __**why**__ did you have to do it? To destroy the Bahak system? To snuff those lives out of existence?!"_

"_Believe you me, Councilor, I'm not proud of that myself," Shepard's voice resonated, and several moments later, Tevos saw __**everything**__._

_The covert operation. The revelation of the monstrous Project. The arrival to base. The countdown timer. The Object Rho. The betrayal which stemmed from indoctrination. The desperate battle. The lack of time. The decision. The desperate run for the shuttle._

_The conversation with Harbinger._

_Abruptly, the meld ended, and Tevos swayed for the moment._

"_Councilor, are you okay?" The Spectre guard asked, worried._

"_Fine… as well as one can be…" the Councilor replied, and turned to Anderson._

"_Satisfied?" she heard, and was surprised at the poison hidden in the human's words._

"_Fully. I understand now. I'm not fine with it, but…" she trailed off, not knowing what to say. Fortunately, Anderson was perceptive, and he understood._

_He nodded, and the whole procession exited the cell._

_Tevos had the urge to turn back at Shepard and mouth, "All will be well," but resisted the temptation. She could not take the political mask off._

_Not now._

_=====END OF FLASHBACK=====_

After that, Tevos was not sure of her feelings towards Shepard. She understood what Shepard had to do, but could not agree with it so soon, even if rationality said that 304,942 lost lives were a better option than trillions of lost lives.

Later, she performed a mind meld with both Sparatus and Valern, showing them the truth taken from Shepard's mind. They were shocked, but knew that Tevos was too skilled to be taken in by illusions, and they agreed to try and prepare the galaxy for war in secret.

_Too little, too late._

When the Reapers came, the galaxy was caught with the proverbial pants down. _Another one of those "witty" human sayings._

In mere months, Batarian Hegemony was all but destroyed, the Alliance lost Earth and good number of colonies, turians became embroiled in a bitter fight over Palaven which was doomed to lose, and some time later, Salarian Union and Asari Republics also began feeling the heat. However, the latter two governments in their arrogance refused to support anti-Reaper front. Linron withheld important assets because Shepard provided krogans with a cure for genophage, and Asari Republics did not even send a representative for war summit.

In fact, once Tevos approached the Matriarchs with the notion of telling Shepard about the hidden artifact in Temple of Athame, they told her in no uncertain terms that if she muttered even a syllable, she would immediately be forcibly retired (that said, assassinated). The asari Councilor was furious; she was a commando in her youths and knew strengths and weaknesses of her species. It was obvious to anyone with some sort of military experience that asari would lose their pants off (in Matriarch Aethyta's words) in the fight against Reapers. But she could not reverse the situation, not until those stuck-up Matriarchs actually saw Reapers over Thessia and collectively crapped their pants (_never thought I would adopt Aethyta's manners; oh well, I think this is justified now_).

And so, Councilor Tevos T'Semni put her hopes on the person who had accomplished a lot of impossible feats, who defeated Saren and Sovereign, survived death, destroyed the Collectors, cured the genophage, formed turian-krogan alliance and turned two bitter enemies – quarians and geth – into allies: Commander Jane Shepard.

Once Tevos told Shepard everything she knew about the secret artifact on Thessia, making sure that no one could wreak vengeance on behalf of the Matriacrhs, she retreated into her private apartment and offered a quick, desperate and somewhat messy prayer:

_Goddess Athame, compassionate, caring and merciful, I come begging before you. Goddess Athame, do not reject me, but please hear my plea. Goddess Athame, forgive my misdeeds and lead me to the right path._

_Please, protect Thessia and all my sisters on the planet from the enemy seeking our annihilation. Bless the weapons raised not in malevolence, but in defense of what we all hold dear._

_Save those who cannot fight this mighty foe and give them strength to endure the hardest challenge._

Tevos hesitated for a moment before continuing, and then whispered:

_Guide the one who hurries to defend our people, the one I know as Commander Jane Shepard. Please help her achieve her goal, provide strength for her team, and protect them from those who wish to do her harm._

_Goddess Athame, just and benevolent, please help the one I love, and forgive me for not having done enough to support her._

* * *

**This was supposed to be a one-shot as "Shepard's Cunning Plan", but my brain went wild, and I decided to split this fic in two chapters. This one is supposed to be angsty. Since this is my first venture into the alley of "Angst" and "Tragedy" genre, I would like you to tell me your honest opinion. **

**If you want to flame my work, please tell me why exactly you do this. Otherwise, I will come to conclusion that your flaming is unreasonable, and there will be a fire extinguisher.**

**The second chapter will contain some dialogue between Shepard and Tevos in the aftermath of fall of Thessia, references to Citadel DLC and inevitable tragic (I hope to put it across like this) ending.**

**I am not sure as to when I will post the second and final chapter, since I'll leave the city for the weekend and must be prepared. That will also disrupt my ability to reply to reviews, most likely. But I will do my best to reply to everyone who writes a review.**

**And I would like to thank the following people who reacted to my previous story, "Shepard's Cunning Plan", as of July 8, 2014:**

**Scorpio-666, Theodur, anonymous Guest, ChocolateTruffles, FasterGhost, Zizania, anotherboarduser, General Herbison, Ode 30 and Thrans – for reviewing.**

**Azuredragon27, ChocolateTruffles, Dezwijger1982, Griffon2745, Rayne90, Rogue Wasteland Wanderer, Scorpio-666, ShepardisaBOSS, Thrans, achus93, elrond-76, greendeluge, hopelessromantic34, iamalex117, silentmarine and swainbob142 – for favouriting.**

**Agent Scifi Maniac, Dezwijger1982, Rogue Wasteland Wanderer, Rayne90 and achus93 – for following (even if my story was a one-shot).**

**Thank you, everyone!**

**Galactic Alien out (for now).**


	2. Chapter 2

**Greetings!**

**OK, I really wanted to update sooner, really, but my brain has been disagreeing with me. That, and since I'm slowly becoming a fan of Warhammer 40,000, I spent a lot of time trying to grasp the basics of this universe. Oh, and my friend also distracted me with an offer to start our adventure in "Dark Heresy". In short: I am not a very good author. I'm terribly sorry.**

**Also, I said that I wanted this to be a two-chapter story, but the text in this chapter has become too big to fit the final parts here, so I had to split again, and make this a filler-chapter. Parts that relate to Citadel DLC and the ending will come later. Please bear with me, and I will do my best to make your wait worthwhile.**

**Enjoy the calm before the Doomsday-class s***-storm.**

**WARNING: this story is rated M for violence, swearing, and inevitable character death. Also, keep in mind that I did not pick the "Tragedy" genre for nothing. **

**COMPULSORY DISCLAIMER: Mass Effect belongs to BioWare and Electronic Arts. This piece of fan fiction is written for non-commercial purposes only.**

* * *

Tevos was worried; she did not have any news on what was going in Parnitha system. If there was something she really did not like, it was the feeling of helplessness mixed with total ignorance on the flow of events. She knew that the situation in asari space was deteriorating very fast; it was the very reason why she actually told Shepard that a Prothean artifact was hidden in Temple of Athame on Thessia, without any fear of repercussion from the Matriarchs. After all, once the high and mighty fossils finally got it through their thick skulls that infiltration and sabotage was as useful against Reapers as tits on a hanar (Tevos laughed quietly, remembering how her personal spy delivered a recording of Aethyta and Liara conversing with each other; it did not happen too often that the young maiden could be thrown out of the loop, but Aethyta had an uncanny ability of having that effect on everyone), they became less constrictive on Tevos, and once the asari Councilor was sure that she would not suffer any consequences, she shared what she knew with Shepard.

Unfortunately, the right time did not come until Reapers were actually orbiting Thessia, and while Tevos had full faith that the first human Spectre hurried to Parnitha system at best possible speed, the room of opportunity was closing rapidly. While asari navy was not the largest, they possessed the best mass effect-based technology which allowed them to go head-to-head against turians and _win_ – in theory, at least. In reality, asari did not dish out or absorb heavy assaults like turians did, so the question of who would win in a war between turians and asari was not that easy to answer.

But even if asari maintained technological superiority over other races, Reaper technology trumped _everyone_. Thus, asari fleet was facing unenviable odds, and only a fool could not understand that once Reapers appeared in orbit over Thessia, it was only a matter of time before the crown jewel of the galaxy was lost to a merciless genocidal enemy.

_All the more reason for Shepard to hurry. I only hope we don't lose Destiny Ascension._

Tevos could not tell for how long she paced around in her office before she heard a blip notifying her of incoming QEC communication. At first, her heart leaped with joy – _Shepard! Finally, I hope she succeeded_ – but her hopes were beaten into the ground once she identified the source of transmission – _Destiny Ascension_.

Still, she was the Councilor of her people, she could not afford to show weakness, even if she knew what kind of news she would hear in moments. Putting on a political face, Tevos accepted the call.

In front of her, she saw the familiar face of Destiny Ascension's CO.

"Councilor," came the weary voice of Matriarch Lidanya.

"Matriarch Lidanya. What's the status?"

"Our bloody status, Tevos?" _Wow,_ Tevos mused, _Lidanya rarely slips to swear words. I wonder if Aethyta rubbed off on her._ "I am surprised we still have a Goddess-damned fleet. Of course, we landed several good kicks on Reapers, but it was a losing battle from the start. Once the Normandy gave the signal, we ran for our lives."

"And what about the Normandy?" Tevos inquired. _Goddess, please, let Shepard be OK!_

"We do not know. Rumours say that Shepard returned from her mission, along with T'Soni maiden, safe and sound, but they did not report anything. Lieutenant Kurin's squad was totally wiped out, so we lack any information."

Tevos felt as if the ground beneath her was about to crumble. Fear started creeping inside her. _Did it actually happen? Did Shepard fail? Or did she lose anyone?_

"I… I see. Lidanya, do you have any plans on where to go?"

"None whatsoever, Tevos," came the tired answer. Apparently, noticing Tevos' distress, and considering the circumstances, Lidanya decided to abandon the formalities. "Since the majority of these stuck-up bitches that I had the displeasure of tolerating have either collectively crapped their pants or perished, there's no oversight over me, except you."

"I grant you the authority to act however you need to preserve what remains of our fleet and soldiers, Lidanya," Tevos said. _I don't know squat about leading the military; let Lidanya do her job._ "Of course, I don't want to be kept out of the loop, but you know this stuff better than I do. If possible, evacuate everyone you can, but don't take any needless risks. Contact Admiral Hackett from the Alliance and offer him any help you can. I will contact Shepard and find out what happened."

"Understood, Concilor. Anything else?" Lidanya slipped back into formal military tone. Not coming up with any other topic, Tevos replied just as formally:

"No."

"Goddess be with you, then. Lidanya out." The image of an elderly asari flickered before disappearing completely.

Tevos stood alone, pondering what to do. She knew deep inside that her "assistance" was most likely to be very late, but she still hoped despite anything that her homeworld would be spared the terrible fate of Earth, Palaven and dozens of other Reaper-razed worlds. The asari Councilor now realized that the unenviable job of preserving what was left of her people, fleets, commandoes and what-not lied now upon her. _Her._ Tevos T'Semni. The rebellious child, the ex-commando, the successful politician, one of the youngest asari who ever served as representative of their race on the Citadel Council.

_Probably the last Councilor, if the Reapers win._

Chasing the pessimistic thoughts from her head, she positioned her hands over haptic interface and entered the command to hail Normandy SR-2 via QEC.

Several seconds passed. No reply.

10 seconds passed. No reply.

20 seconds. Still no reply.

_Did their QEC break or was it destroyed somehow?_

Finally, Tevos saw the image of Shepard, and her heart missed a beat. Unfortunately, not from happiness this time.

Shepard's posture screamed _defeat_. Not something Tevos believed possible. After all, Shepard survived the odds no one would even dare to take on. But unfortunately, the asari matron forgot that Shepard, like every other being, had limits, and that the first human Spectre did not have any otherworldly or supernatural powers. And now, it appeared that it was time to pay for almost complete inaction and blind faith.

"Commander Shepard, are you there?" Tevos inquired. _Goddess damn it, the signal strength is atrocious!_

Shepard just stood without an answer, shoulders sagged and head bowed. It appeared as if she were fighting back tears, and Tevos noticed that her unwitting paramour had a good number of medi-gel patches on her arms and face.

"Commander?" Tevos repeated, worried beyond measure. _Just say something, please!_

"Councilor, the mission…" The voice matched the defeated posture perfectly. It was as if Shepard could not say the word "failed". Not surprising, considering that Shepard was given missions where defeat was not an option, especially after Torfan. People believed that in the first human Spectre's dictionary the word "defeat" never existed.

Tevos remembered that, and in a moment, she dropped into a state of desperation mixed with disbelief. _It is not possible! How could it be possible?_ Momentarily losing her grip on reality, she pronounced, grasping at a sliver of hope:

"We've lost all contact with Thessia. The planet has gone dark. How soon will the Crucible be ready to deploy?"

Alas, the fates were not kind on Councilor Tevos again. Shepard's answer destroyed last vestiges of hope:

"Councilor… I wish the news was better. We didn't get the information."

The shock felt by Tevos was unexplainable.

_No. No!_

"What happened?" the asari voiced the primary thought on her mind.

"Cerberus was there. We were…" Shepard paused, not knowing how to soften the blow, but could not find the right words. So she chose to finish bluntly: "We were defeated. We don't know how to finish the Crucible."

The words hang in the air like a death sentence. The one given to a whole planet, which used to be the "crown jewel of the galaxy" and now became the latest victim of the invasion of genocidal machines known as Reapers.

Tevos felt as if her brain was suddenly ventilated and no words existed in her head anymore. Failing to get around that, she voiced this sudden feeling:

"I… I don't know what to say," _and truly, what is there to say? You failed to do your part in protection of your homeworld,_ the uncomfortable feeling named "conscience" wormed its way into the asari's mind. Trying to placate it, Tevos inquired, "What was the situation on Thessia?"

"Deteriorating fast. The Reapers are there in strength."

An uneasy feeling crept inside Tevos. Later, she was not sure how it actually felt to hear these terrible words. It was as if a black hole formed in her stomach and its gravitational pull spread across her body; with acidic accretion disk around the event horizon. Councilor felt that all her strength was drained from her, into that black hole, and felt the urgent need to stop, before she was swallowed whole.

Part of her screamed that if she did that, it would only be worse, but it did not register in Tevos' brain.

"Then you'll excuse me. There are…" Tevos hesitated, trying to find the best words from her rapidly declining dictionary (apparently, it was being pulled into that black-hole-in-her-stomach, too), and failing, continued, "…preparations to make. Continuity of civilization to consider…"

Deep inside, Tevos remembered the things she considered after that fateful forced mind meld with Commander Shepard, when last vestiges of doubt about Reapers evaporated from her mind. Doing like Anderson used to say ("hope for the best, plan for the worst"), she insisted on implementing several defense measures, and devised several contingencies for the worst possible case. But, if she were totally honest, she never even believed that these measures would be necessary.

Unfortunately, Reapers decided otherwise.

"I never thought this day would come."

"None of us did. I…" Shepard muttered, trying to placate the Councilor somehow, but it was too late. Tevos disconnected. She knew full well what the human wanted to say.

_I am sorry._

The 597-year old matron crumbled, landing rather ungracefully on the floor, and the dam holding her emotions vaporized, freeing the flow of bitter, salty tears, relinquished whatever conscious control of central nervous system had over muscle motions (thus leading to uncontrollable shaking) and gave way to wailing produced by asari's vocal cords.

Tevos sat on her floor, crying and weeping over the lives lost because of Council's short-sightedness, because of her failure to prepare the galaxy for Armageddon, because of her cowardice in front of the conservative Matriarchs and fear for her life, because of… the list could go on and on, but words truly could not do justice to Tevos' grief.

_Could I have just doomed the galaxy to extinction?_

The asari did not know the answer, which certainly did not soothe her nerves.

But hidden deep within, was one reason of Tevos bursting into tears, one she was not ready to show.

_Shepard. The one person I am in love with. The person I treated unfairly, the one I did not believe until it was too late, the one I placed all hopes on, like everyone else in this Goddess-accursed galaxy._

_After Aria, many sentients wanted my attention, wanted to be my lover. And I deemed them unworthy of me._

_But Shepard, not knowing of my feelings towards her, chose to save me, Valern and Sparatus not once, but __**twice**__. Because it was the right thing to do, in her opinion. She even helped our High Command with Ardat-Yakshi monastery on Lesuss. And I was still blinded by my arrogance, thinking that my race would be safe, despite all evidence to the contrary nearly screaming in my face._

_Now, Shepard most certainly blames herself for failure. Had I acted earlier, maybe Cerberus wouldn't have interfered. Maybe we wouldn't be teetering on the brink of extermination now._

Not bothering to wipe her tears, Tevos came to one startling conclusion in her mind.

_It is I who does not deserve Shepard._

Slowly, her flow of tears stopped. She could not afford to cry for too long. Now, many asari will look up to her for guidance. And Tevos could not afford weakness. She needed her people to believe in her. She was the asari Councilor, after all.

But first, she needed to brace herself and wash the tear marks away.

After that, she needed to call Shepard and offer her some comfort, and find out about her plans, of course.

_I will do my best to support Shepard this time. To hell with what others might think, it is time I stopped being an arrogant bitch and became actually deserving of Shepard._

* * *

The unwitting object of asari Councilor's affections felt like complete and utter _shit_. Failing her mission on Thessia not enough, she had to stop Liara from turning Javik into a stain on the port cargo bay wall and then play the role of the compassionate, galvanizing commander, so that Liara would not, God forbid, commit suicide, but pulled herself together.

To be honest, Shepard was fairly miffed at Liara as well. The asari maiden was a very loyal friend, but sometimes she possessed the ability to get under Commander's skin without realizing it.

When Liara set foot on ravaged Thessia, she nearly went into total shock and just stared, as if she hoped that wide eyes and jaw-in-danger-of-falling would somehow make the big bad Reapers go away. _For Christ's sake, Liara knew about Reapers and their capabilities from the beginning of this clusterfuck; what did she expect?!_ And once she returned aboard the Normandy after the mission went FUBAR, Liara first decided to pay visit to Javik and give him a piece of her mind for destroying her cosy little world (or what remained of it) –_good thing I intervened, at least_ _Liara calmed down somewhat_ – and then locked herself up, wallowing in self-pity. _Has she ever seen me or Garrus wallowing in self-pity or just… falling into pieces, or turning into a fucking fire hydrant? I don't have time for straightening everyone up, for fuck's sake!_

_And Joker, damn him, decided it was the best time to joke about "fewer dancers, more commandoes"… I agree with the sentiment, but boy, does he know how to choose the worst possible time!_

Shepard's angry musings were interrupted once she heard EDI telling her that Councilor Tevos was calling her (_again?!_) via QEC. The first human Spectre pondered whether she should tell Tevos to stuff it where the sun never shines, but decided against it – after all, the asari Councilor lost her homeworld, too. _Not sure she did not deserve it, though. Hiding the secrets until their asses are on fire, all in name of goddamn "political balance"… translation, "asari supremacy"… load of bullshit. And now it bit them in the ass._ The vindictive line of thoughts disappeared from her mind, however, once she saw her boss (_well, one of the merry now-trio, since Udina is dead_). Tevos looked… humbled. Asari do not usually look like that, meaning that she went through one hell of a shock.

"Councilor," Shepard greeted Tevos curtly. "Is there anything you need?"

"Yes, Commander, there is," the voice, while not broken down, certainly did not sound merry, "but first, I would like to apologize for hanging up on you so suddenly."

"I thought you would have considered it karmic justice, Councilor…" Shepard replied dryly and humourlessly, despite the attempt to pronounce her answer otherwise, "…that is, if you knew what karmic justice is."

"As a matter of fact, Commander, I do know," Tevos allowed the corners of her lips to form a small smile.

"You do?"

"I worked with Admiral Anderson for two years, did you expect me not to learn at least something from human culture?"

"…point taken. And I do not know whether there is any need to apologize to me, Councilor."

"There is, from my point of view. It was noticeable that you were distressed over the… outcome of your mission to Thessia, extremely, I might add. I am fairly certain that the words you wanted to say before I cut the line were "I am sorry". Correct?"

"…yeah," came the answer from Shepard. _Damn it, how come that she is so perceptive? Oh, whom am I kidding, she is a politician. This is most likely a necessity._

"And I am also certain that by hanging up on you I did not help your emotional state, given that you blame yourself for failure – "

"Of course I blame myself, Councilor! I thought that Cerberus was no longer a credible threat, not after the failed coup and multiple strikes at them! But they knew the perfect moment when to strike, and now the Illusive Bastard has access to the data on the Catalyst!" Shepard shouted at the hologram in front of her. Apparently, Tevos was not the only one whose dam of emotions was broken now. Embroiled in her renewed self-loathing, Shepard nearly missed Tevos' reply:

"And not once did you feel anger towards me?"

"…_what?_" _Oh my,_ Tevos thought. _That certainly threw her out of the loop._

"Or my government, that put itself in front of everyone else in the galaxy?"

"How come that you are not a…"

"…self-absorbed, arrogant bitch, or a _muftascha frugheda_ now?"

"_Muftascha frugheda_? What on Earth does that even mean?"

"Oh. You do not have a translation matrix for Old Thessian dialect, do you? _Muftascha frugheda_ means roughly "self-centered, corrupt functionary that does not serve their people".

"Well, I never thought that you were corrupt, but… well, yeah, my previous epithets about you were not flattering. Sorry," Shepard said. _Wowzers, did someone drug me, or did Tevos get hit with a good heavy hammer?_

"I take no offense. To answer your question, a good number of Matriarchs were still self-centered and arrogant enough to think that no one would dare to upset their cosy order of things. Now, that they're mostly gone and do not matter, I do not have to fear repercussions from them."

"I thought you had a lot of power at your disposal. How come that you had to fear them?" Shepard asked, bewildered.

"We Councilors, unlike what people believe, are not as powerful. We still depend in some degree on our governments, and while our decisions impact the galaxy, we still cannot go on against those who are responsible for appointing us," Tevos regained some of her confident posture, and her voice became steadier. "This is especially true for Asari Republics, whose higher echelons of power are… _were_, actually, a rather intricate web of alliances, conspiracies and rivalries between the Matriarchs. While decisions are made on plebiscites, the common asari normally subscribe to Matriarchs that happen to have sway over them."

"Thus meaning that the real power lies in hands of asari Matriarchs and their views?"

"You caught on well, Commander. In essence, yes. And remember that Matriarchs wield considerable power to back their views."

"Well, to your question about me being angry with you… honestly? Yes, I was angry. Especially since it turned out that the artifact was a thrice-accursed Prothean beacon!"

"What?!" Tevos was shocked. _A beacon? A working Prothean beacon? Inside Temple of Athame? This… this is astounding!_

"You didn't know?" Shepard arched an eyebrow, her posture saying _I call BS._ Something that did not go unnoticed by the asari Councilor.

"You are, of course, free not to believe me, but I swear in the name of Goddess Athame and on honour of T'Semni family that I only knew about the presence of a Prothean artifact in the Temple of Athame; _not_ that it was a Prothean beacon!" Tevos took on what Anderson used to call "solemnly regal" pose, trying to show that she indeed spoke the truth. _Please believe me, Shepard._

The said human scratched her head, clearly not knowing what to think.

"Er… OK, I'll bite if you explain how it is possible for you _not to know_ about such things – or know only a part of them," Shepard finally relented, thinking that it would not do to further alienate her boss. The request was pretty bold, of course, but Tevos decided to go along:

"While I am indeed a very important person and enjoy a lot of control because of being the Councilor, I am still supposed to be subservient to the Matriarchs. It is not possible to become a representative of our race on the Citadel if you do not conform to those Matriarchs that can and are willing back you up; normally, this is not really problematic in our case. All that an asari Councilor is expected to do is to maintain the galactic status quo with Asari Republics being on top of the food chain."

"Sounds kinda… too simple," Shepard felt that she was baffled _again_.

"I merely explained that in layman's terms, Commander."

"So, this means that if you up and told me sooner, this would upset the goddamn status quo that the asari built? And the Matriarchs would get angry and… impeach you or something?" While she told that, Shepard couldn't help but think, _typical politician, that Tevos. She should have sacrificed her career. Yep, she would lose the post, but our victory would vindicate her._

"Worse. They would have arranged my disappearance… and not just mine," Tevos shuddered visibly. "Most likely, you are thinking of me as a coward right now. Correct?"

"Er…" _Damn it, why is she so perceptive?_ "Not really, no." _Yeah, really convincing._ "If I understood you correctly, they would have arranged for my disappearance as well?"

"Precisely."

"Damn it! I know that Matriarchs are supposedly very old and experienced and wise and staff, but they surely did not live up to that reputation! And now, I assume, they paid most dearly?" Shepard inquired. _Would serve the stuck-up old farting bitches right! First they spy on Liara and plan her assassination, then they don't let us know that they probably hold a key to winning this war! Wisdom my ass!_

"They did… in fact, once Reapers appeared in Parnitha system, their overwatch over me became less… stringent. This is what allowed me to tell you what I knew."

"And how did you know about this artifact in first place, Councilor? Just curious," the first human Spectre desired to know.

"While I am not omnipotently powerful, and, being a matron, am supposed to defer to the Matriarchs, my post still grants me a lot of power and insight into asari politics. As I rose in prominence, I paid attention to small signs, until I was able to deduce what was within Temple of Athame. But I never learned that it was a beacon, since I was… _discouraged_ from further inquiries. Makes us look very hypocritical now," Tevos allowed some anger to show on her face, so that Shepard would believe that the matron was not amused herself.

Shepard did not react. She pondered over anything she heard, comparing the new info with her previous knowledge. _Damn it, the asari sure have their own sharp thorns too. Who would have guessed? And Tevos probably sought to let me know without jeopardizing __**both**__ our lives. But would the sutck-up Matriarchs really..? Oh whom am I kidding! I know full well that an experienced asari commando who knows her way with sniper rifle can ventilate a skull without a problem and remain undetected. Or they could use… poison, or whatever… Damn, Machiavelli must be laughing his guts off in his grave._

"Shepard?"

The unusually gentle (_gentle? Since when?_) and subdued voice of the asari Councilor brought Shepard out of her ruminations.

"Yes, Councilor?"

"If you would please tell me… what do you plan to do now?" _You never give up easily Shepard. Please don't start now._

"We're trying to trace the Cerberus ship with the data. Our findings indicate that its signal disappears over planet Horizon, in fact, it is actively jammed. Not much, but this is our only trace now."

"Are you headed there?"

"I am indeed, Councilor," Shepard answered.

"Then may the Goddess watch over you and protect you in your endeavor, Commander Shepard," Tevos said. "In the meantime, I will ensure that remnants of our forces assist Admiral Hackett in whatever way they can."

"He will appreciate that," for the first time, some flicker of smile came across Shepard's face. "Are you sure there will be no repercussions for what you did?"

"Positive. I'm in the same position as Donnel Udina was after destruction of Arcturus station, and others are very unlikely to challenge me now," the asari hesitated for a bit, then added, "If possible, would you report to me after your mission?"

"I will," came the answer.

"Thank you, Commander." _Stay safe._ After a momentary pause, as if the Councilor was debating something with herself, she said, "Tevos out."

* * *

The image of Shepard disappeared, and Councilor Tevos, knowing full well that her object of passions could not hear her now, whispered, "I love you."

Now, there was nothing she could do to help the Spectre; but she still had duties to her people. Time to fulfill them.

* * *

_Of all the crappy days in my life, this has got to be the crappiest of them. And I am only 109 years old,_ mused Liara T'Soni, ex-xenoarcheologist, and now the mightiest information broker in the galaxy, going by the moniker "Shadow Broker", and (half-officially) Commander Shepard's intelligence officer. Once she recalled the title used by her Therum saviour, her thought was continued:

_Correction. The second worst day in my life. The first was when Shepard died onboard the Normandy SR-1._

Not to say that Liara did not care about what happened to her people. In fact, it was quite the opposite, which proved itself in endless coordinating and ordering the remains of asari commando squads and refugee ships to go here or there or lay low and do everything in order not to attract attention. And in other thing: Liara's almost complete inaction, before Shepard visited her room and entered "galvanizing Commander" mode, jump-starting the maiden into action.

_Just like she always did. I am shocked to learn that my mother became a traitor. Shepard supports me. I am shocked to see the cruelties of the galaxy. Shepard helps me to learn how to overcome them. I am grieving the death of my mother and her ignoble fate. Shepard (once she got it rammed into her head that Benezia's death was __**not**__ her fault) lets me cry on her chest._

_When she died, I put her lessons to use, and risked everything for a chance to see her again… even her friendship._

_And the risks paid off. When I got stuck in my hunt for the Shadow Broker, Shepard helped me, several times. When she got the data which could end that bastard for good, the first thing she does is to give it to me._

_She saved my… what was the expression? Beef? No… bacon… numerous times. And now, when I am devastated beyond my imagination, she spurs me into action again._

The line of thought brought forward many good memories of them spending time together as friends. Shepard was truly a miracle; she found her way into hearts and minds of many people, and formed teams that spat in face of bad odds and wiped their boots with them. She was awe-inspiring, invigorating, beautiful, lovable… _oh Goddess, there I go again!_

Once again, the not-so-innocent thoughts about the human wormed their ways into asari's mind. _If I do not switch to another thoughts right now, I won't be able to focus on my work!_

Alas, this was not to be, and Liara stepped away from her terminals, frustrated. Then she noticed that she had worked for full 4 hours _without a pause_. She never did that previously, and now that she stopped her work, Liara felt that her head threatened to come apart.

Coming to sit on her bed, the asari maiden ruminated once again on her feelings for Jane Shepard.

Romantic feelings.

To be fair, Liara believed at first that these feelings were just a simple hero crush. It was not improbable, after all, that a shy young girl would find herself in a position that human poetry eloquently described as "damsel in distress" and then be saved by a dashing hero(ine) (for asari, genders did not really matter; _thank the Goddess – scratch that – meddling Protheans and their experiments_) and develop feelings for her saviour; such events were not unheard of. So Liara rationalized her feelings as a crush that would soon pass and (if not reigned in) would lead to a heart break.

Alas, the heart break _did_ happen on that fateful day, when Shepard, following her "no-one-gets-left-behind-if-humanly-and-inhumanly-possible" policy, went to the cockpit of fatally wounded Normandy SR-1 to save Joker – and did not make it into an escape pod herself.

But it did not make the romantic feelings go away; in fact, it did quite the opposite. Only after that horrible event did Liara appreciate fully what she had with Shepard and in Shepard. Feeling guilty over the fact that she could not save her commander, Liara went out of her way to ensure that her paramour at least received a proper funeral. Instead, she came across a slim chance of seeing the first human Spectre _alive_ in the future – and grasped it immediately. In the end, Shepard's body was in hands of Cerberus, a sworn enemy of asari race and Shepard herself, and her new friend, Feron, was in clutches of the Shadow Broker.

And after that, another feeling wormed its way into maiden's mind; something that Liara did not believe herself capable of prior to these fate-changing events.

An all-consuming desire to exact revenge on those guilty of the death of the person she fell in love with.

In Shepard's name, Liara started her own crusade against Collectors and Shadow Broker, doing everything she could in order to hamper their operations. Unfortunately, both her foes proved to be as elusive as the Illusive Man (no pun intended), the former more than the latter. And in spite of becoming more and more influential on Illium over time, the young asari still could not topple the positions of her enemies. Still, she refused to back down.

Just like Shepard.

And then, on one day, as she was threatening to flay someone alive with her mind (truthfully, asari were not capable of that, but the troublesome client did not bother with gathering proof for the rumours), _she came back._

Liara nearly jumped her there and then. Alas, she could not afford to; she did not know if Shepard would reciprocate her feelings, and besides, her office was bugged.

Plus, she was afraid that if Shepard ever learnt the truth about how Cerberus acquired her body in first place, she would not be able to avoid another heart break.

Fortunately, once Shepard pressed Liara's back to the wall (figuratively, even if the asari maiden dreamt sometimes otherwise) and learnt the truth, she did not start hating the poor girl, even if she got upset a bit about Liara not wanting to speak with her about that. Within moments, asari's heart fluttered; _is it real? Do I get another chance at winning Shepard's heart?_

And then, the mind reminded: _Shepard has to go through Omega-4 relay. They say it is a suicide mission._ The mere reminder nearly crushed Liara again; but she could not distance herself from the human. Not another time.

Instead, Liara promised that she would assist Shepard in whatever capacity she could, while trying to keep the Shadow Broker off from their backs. Shepard was very grateful for that.

Things went on smoothly after that, until Shepard brought her the data from Cerberus that could help Liara in finishing the Shadow Broker _once and for all._ The asari knew immediately that she could not review it in her office; it was still bugged and she did not have the appropriate secure computers to check it out anyway in her office, so she asked Shepard to meet her at her place later.

But fates decided to screw the plans yet again.

Once Liara made a deal with her business acquaintance, a salarian named Sekat, her glass suddenly broke and she felt her barriers stopping the slug from mass-accelerator before it had the chance to ventilate her skull.

The whole business went downhill from there, turning into the blur of trade center bombing, confronting treacherous Spectre and Liara's would-be assassin Tela Vasir, merry aircar chase (during which Liara remembered why exactly she hated Shepard's driving), fierce battle against Shadow Broker's mercenaries, hostage situation, another fierce battle with Vasir followed by flight to Hagalaz and yet another battle against Shadow Broker's mercenaries, and finally, confrontation with the Shadow Broker himself.

When at last Liara's desire for revenge was satisfied, the asari thought that she should _finally_ divulge her feelings about Shepard when she heard the voice of her nemesis' operatives, requesting whether the network still functioned.

At that moment, Liara understood that she had access to the resource she could only dream about. She only needed to stretch a hand and make several steps towards it.

Which she did.

Swearing to herself that this network would benefit Shepard in her anti-Reaper cause.

Alas, the new job did not allow for solidification of romance… but it provided an explanation as to why Shepard, being an attractive woman herself, did not agree to dating any of her potential romantic interests (both human and alien, like Garrus), of which there were quite enough.

Shepard's romances never had a happy ending. In fact, they ended with her lovers' deaths, for which Shepard would blame herself.

Her first crush ended tragically when her fellow gang member and object of her affections, Michael, took a bullet into his carotid artery when they were trying to escape from rival gang. He bought her time to get out, but bled out in seconds.

His death was, in fact, the primary reason why Shepard decided to put her life in gangs behind her and joined the Alliance when she became eighteen years old.

Her second attempt at romancing ended when her lover, named William Hosborne, died from taking a point blank shotgun shot on Torfan. The infamous AT-12 Raider shotguns used by Batarian Hegemony's Special Intervention Unit were super effective in that battle, and left those in stock armour zero chances for survival. And William (whom she affectionately called Billy Bones, much to his chagrin mixed with amusement due to him being slightly thinner than your average Alliance soldier; not because he resembled his "namesake" from Stevenson's "Treasure Island") was not from N7, he was a pretty simple guy who could not believe that the legend of N7 program showed him that much attention at first, but was ready to die for her in the end… which he did.

Finally, her latest romantic interest, a ship engineer called John Gladstone, perished when a freak incident led to drive core overload. Said incident turned out to be an act of sabotage by some anti-globalist terrorist group allegedly linked with Cerberus; before everyone could question what was going on, the terrorists started shooting everywhere. John rushed to the engineering deck, seeking to mitigate the damage, while Shepard was trying to defend the ship and led a counter-attack with a small team. Unfortunately, she had to defend CIC first and foremost, since it was the most heavily hit location; its safety was paramount. The time she had to spend defending said critical location gave terrorists the chance to infiltrate other areas of the ship, where defense was almost non-existent.

She arrived to engineering deck just in time to see her lover die from a barrage of armour-piercing bullets from an assault rifle.

Needless to say that none of those present survived.

After these traumatic events, Shepard convinced herself that it was dangerous for anyone to love her or to be loved by her, because she would bring death onto them.

This information, deduced by agents of the Shadow Broker, showed Liara a new angle to Shepard's refusal to date Kaidan Alenko back in 2183.

When Liara finally understood, she felt a mixture of sadness on Shepard's behalf and rage at the universe, which seemed fit to bang the human mercilessly straight into the heart. And she knew that the chances of her being together with Shepard took another (maybe final) beating. The first one back in 2183 was the fact that Shepard did not really seem romantically interested in anyone from asari race. Physical similarities between asari and human women did not mean that the latter were in a hurry to try and woo the former, much to the disappointment of many asari in the galaxy.

But hearts are never ruled by brains, and Liara's feelings did not evaporate. The asari vividly remembered her feelings when one of her few remaining agents on Omega got the footage of Aria kissing Shepard after the heavy battle in Afterlife club. Liara was very tempted to kick Aria's ass into oblivion once she saw the audacity of the Pirate Queen.

Before that moment, Liara did not really believe that she was capable of extreme jealousy.

Her ruminations were rudely interrupted when her info-drone named Glyph informed her of another call from Councilor Tevos coming.

Naturally, Liara felt suspiciousness. _What would she want now?_

Many did not know, but the Shadow Broker actually had surveillance devices onboard the Normandy SR-2 before Shepard took the ship to Omega-4 relay. Alliance techs were not able to remove them all, and one agent actually implanted others where necessary – comm room with QEC communicator being one of them. The devices already proved useful once – when Liara anonymously revealed to select few that Dalatrass Linron attempted to sabotage human-turian-krogan alliance (it was not exactly so, but the end result would have been as the asari said, and "unnecessary" details were omitted) and mount political pressure against her.

Now, Liara locked her room, claiming she wanted to "sleep off the stress", and enabled live footage from the bug hidden near the QEC, directing it onto one of her monitors.

After hearing the whole exchange between Shepard and Tevos, the asari maiden felt confused, because she could not discern Tevos' motives. Sure, the Councilor was in shock, and perhaps this shock finally "kicked her ass into gear" (as Shepard would say), but Liara knew better – she was not totally ignorant of politics, after all, thanks to her mother's nagging – and she was aware that Tevos _always_ had some sort of motive. But if her earlier motives were easily discernible, they were not in this case.

It was not good when _Shadow Broker_ could not discern the motives of a politician.

Liara decided that this matter warranted further investigation, and decided to tap into her archives and sources to discover what Tevos had in store, but suddenly her intercom chimed. Frustrated, she answered:

"Yes?"

"Liara, it's me." _Shepard._ "Are you feeling better now?"

"Sort of," the asari replied, not totally lying, "but I do feel a need to vent my frustrations against Reapers, or Cerberus."

"Wow, is that your quarter-krogan side showing itself, T'Soni?" the amused tones were unmistakable.

"Not funny, Shepard!" Liara exclaimed, half-annoyed, half-exasperated. _Goddess, I wish she never heard Aethyta mentioning that tidbit._

"Alright, Liara, I'm sorry. I only want to tell you that we are in place to investigate Sanctuary, and if you feel good enough, I want you on ground team."

"I am coming," answered the asari.

"Good, I am taking Garrus too. See you in five on shuttle deck. Shepard out."

The connection cut, and Liara proceeded to change her outfit into battle armour. Delighted to have a chance to kick Cerberus real hard in a quad (as her, in human terms, "father" would say), she still did not forget her suspicions about Tevos.

_I will have to investigate this later…_

* * *

**I can't promise anything about the date when this story is officially complete. The finale is not ready yet, and I do not release chapters until I feel they are ready.**

**I am not certain about the quality of this chapter, especially since I do not really like fillers, so criticism is welcome – but flaming without details as to what deserved such a reaction still warrants a fire extinguisher.**

**My thanks to:**

**Theodur, ChocolateTruffles and Zizania - for reviewing.**

**Rigel100, Starreh23, Zimbolical, cameronsadrock1 – for favouriting this story.**

**Rigel100, Soloist Programmer, Zizania, alwaysterkantoi, cameronsadrock1 – for following.**

**(Acknowledgements are given as of August 15****th****, 2014, 16:23 MSK.)**

**Thanks for reading and patiently waiting!**

**Galactic Alien out (for now).**


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